Fairy Tails
by Eimii
Summary: (Complete Version!) Parte the Firste... In which the Hero meets an untimely demise, takes a short nap, and then steps out for a bit to see the world.


[Standard Disclaimer and Author's Notes: Not too much to say this time, since so few characters appear that i need to worry about. ^_^; Nonetheless, however seldom most of them may appear, the Ranma 1/2 characters aren't my property, and i'd never claim that they were, so please don't sue me! **=REVISON 10/4/02=** Eheh, after going through and revising the entre chapter, i couldn't find anywhere to safely chop it up, so here's the first chapter in its entirety. **=REVISON 10/6/02=** Had to replace the entire story to get it to update properly -_-;. To those who sent reviews before the update, thank you! Chapter two should be along pretty soon, i think, though that all depends upon whether i get swamped by work and other projects or not -_-;. Sorry for the delay! Thanks to everyone who helped me with this so long ago! The usual suspects, you know who you are. ^_~ As always, i'd appreciate any feedback you might feel like giving me, and thanks for reading!

~Eimii]

****

tap...tap...tap...tap...tap...tap...

  


I can feel the rain...

tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap...

  


I can feel the rain on my cheeks. It's getting stronger...

tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap`tap...

  


Strange... I can feel the raindrops falling on my cheeks, but I don't feel wet...

tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap...

  


And the raindrops... somehow, they don't seem really... raindrop-like. More like...

taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap...

  


More like- I don't know. Just not like raindrops... And it's always one cheek, then the other, over and over again. Rain isn't usually like that, is it?

tptptptptptptptptptpt-

  


That's funny, it stopped... I wonder what's going on. I wish there was some way to find out...

"Haah, hah- _wheeze_ -hah. Ouchie... Wow, how can his face be so hard...?"

_   
_

A sound; somebody's voice. An unfamiliar voice. Somebody was speaking to him? Movement; something light, almost a breeze, shifting on his chest._ What's going on here? Who's voice is that?_

"I hope he wakes up soon. My hand is really starting to hurt..._sigh_" **_tap...tap...tap...tap...tap...tap..._**

Now that I think about it, it doesn't really sound like rain either. More like... like someone slapping something, repeatedly... Maybe I'd better take a look. Slowly, as if they were just now remembering how to do so, eyelids cracked open. Blinding light. Shadow. Blinding light. Shadow.

****

tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap...

Things started to come into focus. Somewhat more bearable light. Shadow. A... a hand? Bearable light. Hand blocks the light, **_tap._** Hand pulls away. Light. Hand falls again, on the other side, **_tap._** Hand pulls away. Blink.

"Huh...?" he mumbled groggily. Remembering where his hands were, he brought them up to ward off another slap. "Wha-... whaas goin' on...?"

The hand stopped in mid-motion, pulling away one final time to be replaced by a face. Small and roundish; short red-orange hair. Anger flared within him for a moment, though he didn't know why. Yellow eyes. _Something funny about those eyes, and not just the color... _

Soft features; a girl, probably. _Kawaii... _Something different flared within him, but was pushed aside by a strange, general feeling of wrongness. _There's something just... _odd_ about this face, this person. I can't quite figure it out, but I'm _sure_ there's something wrong with this picture..._

"Oh good, you're awake! Finally!" The face cracked an ear-to-ear grin. Something bothered him about that smile too. "Sorry about hitting you, but you just wouldn't wake up! I hope you're not too mad..."

The person- he was pretty sure it was a girl now -flashed him an apologetic look and clambered off of him. He now came to realize that he was flat on his back, and just moments ago a cute girl(?) had been straddling his chest, slapping him in the face repeatedly.

"No, no! I'm... I'm fine," he hastily assured her, blushing. Sitting up quickly, he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Thanks for waking me up, I guess..."

"Hehe, no problem!" she bubbled enthusiastically.

A better look at his companion provided corroborating evidence that she was indeed a girl. The short green T-shirt and loose black shorts that she wore revealed enough of her slim, athletic figure to satisfy his suspicions. Her hair was fiery orange-red and straight, cut just above the shoulders with spiky, irregular bangs. It looked rather tousled, but for some reason that seemed to suit her. Her skin was tanned, but he could still make out a light sprinkling of freckles dotting her cheeks. Plain white socks and a pair of dirty, beaten-up gray sneakers completed the picture of a cute teenaged girl, probably a few years younger than himself.

Noticing his attention, she flashed him another sunny smile. _There it is again... _Something about the girl's face somehow struck him as terribly unsettling, but Ryouga just couldn't wrap his mind around it well enough to say what it was. Reluctantly letting it drop for the moment, he got into a kneeling position and took a look around at his surroundings. 

It appeared that they were in a small, grassy valley. Nestled in between two low hills, it was bordered on one end by the thin beginnings of a forest, while a glance the other way revealed a picturesque vista of gently rolling countryside extending off to the horizon. 

The sky was clear and blue, with just the occasional wispy cloud gracing its cobalt vastness, and the air was silent but for the quiet whisper of the wind. All taken into account, it was possibly the most peaceful, serene setting he could think of. Now, if only he could remember how he'd gotten there. 

Standing and lifting his arms above his head, Ryouga began to work the kinks out of his muscles. As he stretched, he turned to regard the girl, who was still looking at him curiously. "Um, excuse me? As long as you're still here, I was wondering if-" 

Wait a minute... That didn't feel quite right. Frowning, the lost boy shifted his arms slightly. "-if you could tell me..." A truly peculiar sensation, a muscle twinge that he shouldn't have felt, alerted him to the fact that something was indeed very, very wrong; with his back, to be specific. He flexed again, just to make sure. _Uh oh..._

Slowly, deliberately he turned his head to the side, hoping against hope that he would not see what his body had already told him that he should. "No way..." Suddenly, it was as though a dam broke within his head. A chaotic flood of images and sensations, of memories, rushed in, seeping into all of the fuzzy, indistinct hollows of his mind. 

He reeled for a moment, stunned, as the waters settled, until finally comprehension began to dawn on him. Now he understood; now he knew where he was, and how he had gotten there. He still couldn't place what was bothering him so much about this girl, but that could come later.

Reaching up with both hands, Ryouga tentatively fingered one of the large, feathery wings that extended from about where his shoulder blades should've been. "Funny, I thought angel's wings were supposed to be white, not black," he mused dreamily, still numb with shock. "And I'm not even Christian, either..."

Fun with Nyanniichuan Productions Presents...

From the slightly unbalanced mind of Eimii...

Yet _another_ piece of Ranma 1/2 fanfiction...

Fairy Tails...

Parte the Firste...

In which the Hero meets an untimely demise, takes a short nap, and then steps out for a bit to see the world.

The girl just sat back a bit and favored him with a curious look. "Ne, what're you talking about? Are you sure you're okay?" She crawled over on her hands and knees and peered at him more closely. "Maybe I shouldn't have hit you so much, if you can't even remember what color your own wings are..." She then cocked her head to the side, a puzzled expression crossing her face. "Ano... what's a 'christian,' anyway...?"

It was now Ryouga's turn to look puzzled, as his brain tried to jump-start enough neurons to deal with this line of questioning. It wasn't having too much luck. "Uh... Well, this is Heaven, right?" The girl just stared at him blankly. "It's not Heaven? Then is it Hell? If it is, then it's really a lot nicer than I pictured it would be..."

The redhead simply tilted her head to the other side, an uncomprehending smile slowly dawning on her face. Frowning in consternation, Ryouga considered the implications. The beginnings of a frantic edge surfaced in his voice as he continued. "I _am_ dead, aren't I?"

The girl blinked once, twice, not saying anything. Then she began to stare at him more intensely. "Ara, you think you're _dead?_" She scratched the back of her head in confusion, looking him up and down. Grabbing his hand, she brought it up to her nose, sniffing it. "You don't _smell_ dead..." Dropping the hand, she stood up and crossed her arms, walking in a slow circle around him. "You don't _look_ dead..." 

Stopping when she stood before him again, she suddenly leaned forward and put one ear to his chest. "And you don't _sound_ dead, to me," she declared triumphantly, leaning back and nodding to herself. She plopped back down again at his feet, still smiling. "So, why d'ya think you're dead? I mean, _I_ don't think you're dead..." Her left ear twitched a bit, perking up slightly.

Blushing brightly from her recent proximity, the lost boy pressed his forefingers together and looked away. "Well, I-" _Hold it! Did I just see that?_ Ryouga's mind was really putting on the wear and tear today, with all of this stop-and-go thinking; shifting into reverse, the lost boy looked at the girl again. "-I, uh... umm... I'm sorry, but are you- I mean, do you have... that is, are- are those... _cat_ ears??" he choked out weakly. He looked again, this time taking in her eyes, and the curve of her lips. "And cat's eyes, and fangs?" He looked around behind her back to see if his imagination was really going all out with this. "And a _tail??_"

The girl nodded happily to him, seemingly oblivious to his rising distress. "Uh-huh! I'm a cat spirit! Neat, ne?" With that, she hopped back to her feet, twirling once to give Ryouga a good look at all of her assets. "Myaan! Nice to meet you!" she sang cheerfully, offering Ryouga her hand.

Not knowing what else to do, Ryouga took the hand and shook it, somewhat unsteadily. "Um... Hi, I'm Hibiki Ryouga. Nice to meet you, uhm... I didn't quite catch your name..."

"I just told you!" she scolded jokingly, "It's Myaan!" she shook his hand vigorously, a silly smile still plastered on her face.

Ryouga scratched the back of his head, smiling back despite how lost he felt. _Her name is Myaan? I just thought that she was making some sort of cat noise..._ He decided not to voice this thought though, as Myaan might take offense. "So... Myaan, If I'm not dead, then why do I have wings?" he asked, experimentally unfurling said appendages.

Myaan's smile fell slightly, and the confused look returned. After examining him for a few more moments, she replied, "Um... you have wings `cause you're a Bii`bi, I think..." She crossed her arms and peered at him again, seeming to be looking at something just behind his right ear.

"What's a Bii`bi?" Ryouga asked, reflexively reaching up to feel behind his ear. Or, at least he tried to feel behind his ear. The wanderer felt something brush up against his right ear, so he twitched it out of the way. **_-Blink-Blink-_** Tentatively, Ryouga reached up and touched his ear, which had apparently become rather pointy, furry, and mobile since the last time he had examined it; a lot like Myaan's ears, actually.

Meanwhile, Myaan had missed apparently Ryouga's little bout of self-examination. "You don't know what a Bii`bi is? Well, then you're probably not one of them, ne?" The cat girl giggled a bit at that. "A Bii`bi is a kind of Chinese fox spirit, sort of like a Kitsune, `cept they have wings, `an they're a lot nicer, tho maybe they're not quite as smart, or maybe they're not as sneaky." Crossing her legs and sliding to the ground, she put her hands on her ankles and began to rock back and forth anxiously.

"Somebody once told me that one day, a long time ago, a nine-tailed fox decided that she wanted to see what was on the other side of the moon, so she turned six of her tails into wings `an flew away, `an that's how the Bii`bi got wings." Myaan got another confused look on her face, and scratched her chin in puzzlement. "But I still don't understand why she would turn her tails into wings. A nine-tailed fox can fly really, really fast already. It doesn't make any sense, ne?" Sighing, she turned back to Ryouga. "But anyway, I was sooo sure that you were a Bii`bi, `cause you've got the ears of a fox `an the tail of a fox, `an you've got wings too! `An you seem nice enough, but not very smart!" She grinned widely at him, nodding in satisfaction at her deduction.

"Hey!! Who's not very smart?!" Ryouga growled, his feathers bristling. Myaan seemed to be genuinely startled by Ryouga's reaction, jumping and scooting a few feet away. "Maybe I'm one of these Bii`bi, and maybe I'm not, but that still doesn't explain _why_ I have wings."

The cat-girl fixed him with a questioning gaze. "Why doesn't it explain why you have wings?"

"Well, I..." Ryouga stopped, his mind balking at this continued abuse. "That is, I mean, I didn't have any wings before, but I have them now, and..." Ryouga's anger quickly drained away into frustration as he struggled to articulate his thoughts. "And... aargh! Are you _sure_ I'm not dead?" he pleaded, looking beseechingly at Myaan.

"Ano... Why d'ya keep asking if you're dead? Why would you be dead?" Myaan peered quizzically at the lost boy, the beginnings of worry evident on her face.

"Because- because..." Pausing, Ryouga looked down into his lap, his expression darkening considerably. "Because I _should_ be dead... Because..." Taking another deep breath, he looked up at Myaan again, a frightened, haunted look in his eyes. "Because I can _remember_ dying..."

(~)

Stumbling to his feet again, Ryouga wiped a trickle of blood from his lips. He hastily assumed a defensive stance, casting a wary gaze at his opponent. 

From across the rooftop, Ranma stared back at him, his hands still cupped in the final motions of a Moukou Takabisha. Then, with almost infuriating nonchalance, the pigtailed boy assumed a casual stance. An evil grin appeared on his face as he turned to regard Ryouga out of the corner of his eye. 

"Too slow, P-chan." The words trickled contemptuously from his lips as his lifted a hand to brush his long bangs away from his eyes. The tiny pair of oni horns on his head became all the more evident from the motion.

DAMMIT! He's just too goddamn fast! And he fights dirty, too! Ryouga winced as a painful twinge in his groin reminded him of an earlier lapse of judgment. _How the hell am I supposed to hit him in the head if he won't stop moving around like that?! Hmm... maybe one of the wards might work... _

A hasty glance revealed that several of the wards were still littered about the rooftops and in the street below. The small wooden box that he and Ranma had tried to trap the oni in was there too, and it looked like it wasn't too badly damaged either. _Only one way to find out!_

Using his foot to kick the box into the air, Ryouga rolled to the side, snatching several of the wards off of the rooftop. Dabbing his little finger against his split lip, Ryouga drew in the final stroke on each of the wards in his own blood, catching the box again just as he was finished.

"Alright Saotome, no more playing around!" Roaring a battle cry, Ryouga flicked out his right hand. Focusing some his Ki into the wards stiffened them to the consistency of steel. At the same moment, he began focusing for the ShiShi Houkoudan. Splitting his concentration like that was incredibly trying, but vital to his hastily contrived plan.

Advancing rapidly, Ryouga released three of the five wards he had charged, sending them whistling through the air in a deadly, erratic arc towards Ranma's head. Only Ranma wasn't there anymore. He had just stepped arrogantly to the side, cleanly bypassing Ryouga's attack, just like the lost boy had expected him to. 

The fourth ward, which Ryouga had released a split second later, buzzed down towards the roof tile that Ranma was standing on, splitting it in half. The pigtailed boy was forced to dance hastily away, just as Ryouga closed on him. Bringing the last ward to bear as quickly as possible, Ryouga locked his free arm with that of the possessed martial artist. 

A momentary look of surprise flashed across Ranma's face, before it was replaced once again by that smug, arrogant smile. Ranma's arms blurred, moving faster than Ryouga had ever seen, and suddenly the lost boy felt a tremendous pain in his chest. The ward fluttered fruitlessly from Ryouga's numbed fingers as he looked down, trying to process the fact that Ranma's forearm was protruding from his chest. _Claws... The demon could make claws... I forgot about those..._

With a sickening, wet noise Ranma jerked his arm back. Holding it up

before the shocked lost boy, Ranma licked the blood from one of the long claws that tipped his fingers. That same thick, red fluid was running down the length of his forearm, staining his skin crimson, but he didn't seem to notice or care. "Too bad pig boy. You lose, again..." Smiling, Ranma began to laugh.

"...N- not... yet..." The gloating expression on the demon Ranma's face shattered into one of confusion and disbelief as Ryouga's arms sprang up, almost with a life of their own, and clamped around his shoulders.

"WHAT?! NO!! YOU CAN'T-"

"DIEEE!" With a thunderous crash, Ryouga's forehead collided with Ranma's, the pigtailed boy's head snapping back violently from the force of the blow. A dazed, unfocused looked entered Ranma's eyes, as a black haze began to stream from his body. _NOW! _Gripping Ranma's body to his own, bloodied chest, Ryouga cast his eyes skyward, screaming at the heavens. "SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!!!"

A livid column of green light engulfed the boys, it's expanse shot through with writhing tendrils of curling black and red mist. Rising high into the sky, it paused almost a kilometer above the city, outshining the setting sun like as it hung there, pulsing with wild, malevolent waves of light and darkness like some sort of surreal fireworks display. And then it began to fall.

Down in its shadow, Ryouga watched the blast approach with glazed, unseeing eyes. Dimly aware of Ranma's breath on his neck, the lost boy pushed the unconscious martial artist away. Then, like a broken puppet with its strings cut, he collapsed to his knees, pitching forward limply.

His labored, gurgling breath began to slow as a warm wetness spread from the rent in his chest, running down the gentle slope of the roof and dripping onto the ground below. His sight rapidly began to darken around the edges, fleeting spots of non-color dancing across his field of vision. As the pool of red began to encroach upon the vivid white of the demon ward that rested beside his head, a final spark of need alit within the lost boy's dimming consciousness.

I... I have to finish it... before... Almost without thought, his right hand crept forward, rescuing the ward from the rapidly spreading pool of blood. His left arm, still clutching the wooden box, moved to the side and braced against the slick surface of the tiles. _Have to finish it, before... before anyone else..._

With a strangled grunt of effort, Ryouga tensed, oxygen deprived muscles screaming in agony as his arms and back straightened. One final spray of crimson erupted from his chest, unnoticed, as Ryouga tilted his head back to regard the sky above. It was close; the looming, green and black sphere of light filled his failing vision. With unsteady, blood stained hands, Ryouga opened the box, holding it in both hands as he lifted his arms above his head, waiting.

Goodbye... Akane...

After half a second's eternity, the wayward star finally succumbed to the relentless draw of one man's unending sorrow, striking the house with earth-shaking force. The walls of the building blew outward as the roof collapsed, a blinding could of dust rising from the wreckage to fill the vacuum left in the wake of the blast.

Upon the cratered floor of the building, the form of a man stood untouched. Above his head he held a box, into which rushed a roaring stream of darkness, swirling around him within the verdant inferno. As the last tail of shadow was sucked into the box, the man within the sphere of light snapped the lid shut, affixing a tattered, bloodstained piece of paper over the clasp. Then, with a final motion of surrender, the form folded in upon itself.

Within the shattered wreckage the body of Hibiki Ryouga knelt. In his lifeless arms was clutched a small wooden box, held tightly to his chest, a final protective impulse preventing it from falling to the ground. For a moment, a tiny pinpoint of green fire danced behind his dull eyes, before fading into darkness.

(~)

"...The last thing I remember is sealing up the oni, and then... and then I was here..." Ryouga trailed off, staring aimlessly into the distance. Trembling a bit, he hugged himself tightly, as if trying to prevent the warmth from escaping his grasp once again.

Eventually, his eyes began to refocus a bit, and he turned to regard his audience, a puzzled look replacing the previous pallor. "Say, where are we, anyway?"

"Huh?!" Myaan blinked and shook her head, as if just waking up from a dream. "Ara... ehehe. That was a really, really good story Ryouga! `An you told it _sooo_ well, too! You should be a bard or a poet or something... ah, are you okay?" Myaan peered curiously at the winged boy, who had just face-planted directly into the ground.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Ryouga straightened, a tired look on his face. "Yeah... I'm fine, don't worry about it." Sighing, the lost boy began to scrutinize the ground in front of him, casually picking up a small red stone and turning it over in his hand.

"So what's Earth like?" The cat-girl queried, leaning towards him.

The small red stone crumbled into a palm-full of red dust as Ryouga twitched convulsively, almost falling over backwards. "Huh? What?" Flailing his arms and other various appendages about, Ryouga managed to right himself.

"Wha`dya mean, 'what?' I asked first!" Pausing, Myaan momentarily assumed a contemplative stance. "Actually, you asked first. But you're much better at stories than me!" Smiling again, she bounced forward in a crouch, forcing Ryouga to lean backwards as she invaded his space. "Ne, ne, So what's it like? Are there lots of people `an animals `an trees `an stuff? What color is the sky? Is it blue? Is it red? Is it green? How `bout the ocean? I've never seen the ocean! `Course, I've never been to Earth, but I've never seen the ocean here either. Is it plaid? I'll bet it's plaid! That'd be funny! Do humans still run around wearing armor `an swinging swords `an slaying dragons `an stuff? How d`ya say 'I have a dozen eggs in my pants' in human? Do humans really live in hollowed out stumps and eat boiled rutabaga every day? I don't like rutabaga very much. I like clouds tho! Are there clouds on earth? What do they look like? Huh? Tell me tell me tell me!"

Forced back by this onslaught, Ryouga toppled over again, falling backwards into the soft grass. This time, he decided to stay there for a while. Laying sprawled at the base of the gentle slope of the hill, he gazed up at the sky. "I... I thought you didn't believe me when I said I was a human..." Suddenly, Ryouga found that he had a small, hyperactive cat-girl sitting in his lap, staring down at him.

"I never said that!" Resting her elbows on his chest, she perched her face in her hands and blew out a sigh. "I just said it was a good story. But I guess it was a sad story, ne? You didn't look happy when you were telling it. I though maybe that was part of the story, but I guess not, `cuz you don't look happy now either. I s'pose dying isn't something that you like to think about. `S not something I like to think about either. But it was such a good story! And I wanna know more about Earth, too! But maybe you don't wanna talk about Earth, ne? I'm sorry. Maybe you don't wanna talk to me anymore. But you asked me a question before! What did`ja wanna talk about? Please tell me! I promise I won't bring up Earth or dying or the ocean or rutabaga or Ross Perot anymore! Pretty please! I'll be good!" 

Leaning forward until their noses were only millimeters apart, Myaan put on the most pathetically cute, dewy-eyed, pleading look that Ryouga had ever seen. Her ears drooped and her lower lip began to tremble, a tiny hint of fang peeking through.

Ryouga could only stare back at her, his jaw working wordlessly as he tried to formulate a coherent response. On the one hand, he fully realized that he now had a cute... female person, pressed up against him, and that they were situated in a very... interesting position, for the second time that evening. 

On the other hand, however, Ryouga was suddenly overcome with the urge to pet the pretty kitty in his lap, scratch it behind the ears and maybe snuggle for a while. This posed a rather confusing problem for Ryouga's mental defenses, as they couldn't quite decide whether this kind of close contact was a threat to Ryouga's delicate sensibilities.

All thought processes ground to a screeching halt as more and more resources were devoted to this dilemma, but in the end it simply did not compute. Ryouga's eyes rolled back in his head as the system froze and crashed. Comforting darkness descended once again.

(~)

"Ugh..." Groaning, Ryouga drifted into wakefulness. His eyes fluttered open furtively, then closing again to block out the too-bright light. "Wha... what happened...?" Plumbing the murky depths of memory produced a string of bizarre, disjointed images. "Man... what a weird dream." Lifting one arm to rub his eyes, Ryouga stared up at the hazy, red-violet sky above. _I wonder what time it is..._

Grunting quietly, the lost boy began to sit up, only to notice that there seemed to be something laying on top of him. Tilting his head forward, Ryouga nearly swallowed his own tongue when he found a mass of messy, red-orange hair resting on his chest. 

When he moved, something sticking out from one side of the puff-ball twitched, and the form laying on top of him shifted a bit to reveal the sleep-clouded face of Myaan. Her eyes cracked open slightly and her ears flicked back and forth in irritation. "Nyaa?"

"Huh?!" Ryouga blinked and rubbed his eyes again, trying to dispel the impossible image before him. When it didn't work, he just continued to stare. Meanwhile, Myaan seemed to fall back to sleep, once again curling up into a ball and resting her head on his chest. "But, but you're..." 

Trailing off, Ryouga uncertainly began to roll his shoulders, sending a questing hand began to feel the ground at his side. _...Yup, still there,_ he thought uneasily, as the hand brushed against a carpet of soft feathers. Ryouga's other hand traveled to his face, covering his eyes as he slumped to the ground. 

"It... it wasn't a dream, then... But that means..." Tilting his head to the side and opening his eyes, Ryouga turned to face the light. The hills around them were lit in a warm, ruddy orange glow, as the sun dipped further below the horizon.

Turning once again to his slumbering companion, Ryouga debated what to do next. Strangely, he wasn't so bothered by her touch anymore. Lying there, curled up on his chest in the fading light, Myaan was just a sleeping kitten; something to be petted and protected, but nothing to get excited over. Still, there would be time to sleep later... he hoped. Lifting one hand, Ryouga began to gently shake Myaan's shoulder. "Psst, Myaan... Wake up. C'mon..."

Un-curling at his touch, Myaan turned a heavy-lidded gaze towards the urgently whispering lost boy. "Ara... ah, Ryouga. You're awake again..." Rubbing her eyes, Myaan stretched her legs and rolled over onto her stomach, regarding her pillow sleepily. "Wha'sup?"

Ryouga blushed badly as the girl stretched out full-length on top of him, but somehow managing to maintain his composure. He took a deep, calming breath. "Um... why are you l-lying on top of me?" Averting his eyes to the side, Ryouga hoped that his flushed face would be obscured by the deepening shadows.

"Oh. You decided to take a nap, I guess. I didn't want to wake you up again, `cuz my hand still hurts, so I decided to wait." Crossing her arms on Ryouga's chest, Myaan laid her head down and looked off towards the setting sun. "I waited a long, long time, but you didn't wake up. Then I got bored, so I decided to take a nap too." Myaan lifted her head again and turned towards Ryouga, a happy smile on her face. "I like naps a lot! I think you do too, `cuz you seem to take a lot of them."

Scratching the back of his head, Ryouga coughed nervously. "Uh... yeah, I guess I do, don't I? But... er... I mean, why'd you decide to take your nap, um... on me...?" Idly, the shy boy began to tug on his bandanna.

"`Cuz you're warm." Myaan replied playfully, snuggling a little closer. "`S nice to sleep on something warm..."

"Ehehehe..." Ryouga hastily stifled his rising panic, though it was intensely difficult with all the blood in his body rushing to his head. "Y-yeah... but, but... um... don't you think we should g-go somewhere else, or something... It's g-getting dark, y'know..." The broad wings under his back flexed and twisted uncomfortably as the 'fight or flight' instinct tried to take control.

"`S okay. We're safe here, I think. I never heard of anything bad happening out here, `an I come here a lot." Turning an ear to the side, Myaan glanced over to see what the rustling noise was. "Ah! Oops! Sorree!" Straightening suddenly, Myaan moved back a bit, so that Ryouga could sit up. "That looks like it hurts!"

Finding that propping himself up on his elbows didn't help, because his wings were still pinned under him, Ryouga eventually managed to get himself upright. Sitting cross-legged, the lost boy opened his wings to their fullest extension, fanning them out in the cooling air. Then, lowering them thoughtfully, Ryouga wrapped the wings around his shoulders like a long, ebon-feathered cloak.

Myaan, still sitting in his lap, leaned into his left wing. "Hmmm... Hehe, that's soft..." Giggling quietly, she began to play with his feathers.

"Hey, stop! That tickles!" Ryouga shifted the wing out to the side, only to have Myaan switch to the right wing. Moving that one as well, Ryouga lifted a hand to ward off the laughing cat-girl. "C`mon, quit it!"

With a devilish grin, Myaan suddenly placed a hand on either of Ryouga's shoulders. Then, before he could protest, she vaulted up out of his lap and over his head. Landing behind his back, Myaan proceeded to tickle both of his wings at the same time. "Nyaa, nyaa! Can't get away now!"

"Aaa- hehe- s-stop! Eheh-" Hastily scrambling to his feet, Ryouga tried to turn away, only to have Myaan dance nimbly around him, always staying at his back. "C- ahaha- come back here!" Ryouga tried lifting his wings into the air, but that only exposed more of the vulnerable underside to Myaan's tickling. _Well, at least she's out of my lap..._

Suddenly, the tickling stopped. "Eheh, thanks... Myaan?" Lowering a wing and turning his head to the side in puzzlement, Ryouga found that the cat-girl in question was sitting on the ground, staring in rapt attention at his tail as it swished back and forth in irritation. Actually, now that Ryouga took a good look at it, it wasn't just one tail, but three.

Each of them was about the length of his leg, and covered in long, thick black fur, tipped by a flash of silver that seemed to glow like fire in the fading light. Experimentally, Ryouga tried to sway them to the left, then to the right. Much to his amusement, he found that Myaan's eyes remained glued to bright tuft at the end, no matter where he put it. Occasionally she would try to bat at it with her hands, only to have Ryouga quickly move it out of her reach.

Smirking to himself, Ryouga closed his wings and crouched down facing Myaan, all the while keeping the tip of his tails bouncing up and down in front of her eyes. After a few moments of watching her, Ryouga poked her in the arm. "Hey, what's so interesting, hmm?"

"Aa- Ara?" Blinking, as if awakening from a trance, Myaan snapped to attention. "Oh, Ryouga. Heh... your tails are pretty. `An you've got three of them too!" Suddenly, a wide, fang-toothed grin split the cat-girl's face. "Five! Hehe, lucky!" Pouncing before Ryouga could so much as blink, Myaan snagged the ends of his tails and began to tickle his nose with them.

"Wha- aaaah- aACHOO!" Covering his mouth, Ryouga quickly snatched the tails away again, hiding them behind his back. Myaan giggled at him, smiling innocently. "What do you mean 'five?' I only have three tails." Rubbing his nose to ward off another sneeze, the fox-tailed boy gazed curiously at his companion.

Still giggling, Myaan bounded to her feet and ran around to Ryouga's back, grabbing his wings again. "Hey, you weren't listening, were you? I told you a story earlier! Did'ja forget already?" Leaning around Ryouga's wings, Myaan peered at him appraisingly.

Her lips turned down in a small frown of disappointment, though it didn't reach her eyes. "It wasn't as good as your story, but I though that you'd remember! After all, you asked why you had these, ne?" Grasping them by the tips, Myaan spread his wings a bit, nuzzling her face into the soft feathers.

Having tensed for action when Myaan had grabbed his wings, Ryouga began to relax a bit, as it seemed that she wasn't going to start tickling him again. "Yeah... I guess I did ask why I had them," he ventured, turning to peer at Myaan over his shoulder, "but what do my wings have to do with how many tails I've got?"

"Weeeeellll...," cocking her head to the side, Myaan assumed a thoughtful pose, though her hands alternated between grasping Ryouga's wings and playing with the end of his tails. "If that Bii`bi turned six of her tails into wings, then that means that your wings are sorta like tails... `cept that they have feathers, ne?"

Having successfully tied his tails into a french braid, much to Ryouga's chagrin, Myaan began to count on her fingers. "Soo... if you've got three tails, and two wings, that makes five. `An five's a lucky number, `cuz it's one more than four. Four's a bit less than half of nine, while five's a bit more, `an nine's a really lucky number, `cuz that's how many lives cats have, `an how many tails foxes have, `an lots 'n lots of other stuff! So five is lucky `an four is unlucky, but you've got five! Lucky!" Bouncing around the lost boy, Myaan spun around to face Ryouga, a silly grin on her face.

"I see..." Ryouga muttered absently, as he tried to un-braid his tails. Succeeding, with some difficulty, Ryouga turned a rueful grin to match his companion's playful one. "Well, that makes sense, I suppose. Four is unlucky where I come from too, though not for the same reasons."

"Wow! Neat!" Twining her fingers behind her back, Myaan rocked back on her heels, nodding. "Sounds like a lot of things on Earth are the same as here, ne?"

"Yeah..." Scratching his head, a thought suddenly leapt to Ryouga's attention. "Oh, that reminds me! I was going to ask you something, before... um, before I took my... nap." Coughing to clear his throat, as well as to get Myaan attention, Ryouga looked around, spreading his arms wide. "Um... where exactly is 'here,' anyway?"

"`S a grassy field," Myaan replied, matter-of-factly.

"I know that, but _where_ are we?"

"Inna grassy field."

"And this field is where...?"

"Beside that forest over there."

"That's not what I mean!" Ryouga shouted, causing Myaan to jump back, a frightened look on her face. Holding his head in his hands, Ryouga took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Sorry... now then, if this... this _place_ is not Earth, then what is it called?"

"Oh..." Instantly, Myaan brightened, all traces of fear disappearing from her expression, quickly replaced by her usual air of carefree ease. "`S called Arcadia!"

"Arcadia?" Ryouga turned the word over in his mind, trying to remember if he had ever heard it before.

"Or Alfheim, or Xanadu, or lotsa other things. Nobody can ever seem to agree on what it's called." Myaan explained, shrugging expressively. "Arcadia's easiest, `cuz people usually don't get mad when you callit that."

"People get mad when you call it other things?" Ryouga wondered aloud, an incredulous note entering his voice.

"Sometimes." Myaan nodded slowly. "Most don't, but somebody's always unhappy, no matter what'cha do. I think Arcadia sound's best, tho." The cat-girl turned an inquisitive look towards her new friend. "Why'dja ask?"

"Hmm...?" Having been lost in his own thoughts, Ryouga started, and turned to look at Myaan. "Oh, it's just that I was wondering about how I got here. I mean, one moment, I'm... I'm on Earth," shivering a bit, Ryouga continued, "and the next I'm here. It doesn't make sense..."

Trailing off, Ryouga's expression clouded, a small scowl forming on his lips. "Um... I know that you said I'm not... dead, but just hypothetically, let's say that I _was_ dead. Now, if someone dies, is it common for their soul, or their ghost, or whatever to come here?"

Scratching her head, Myaan was silent for a moment. "Aah... Nope. No, I don't think I've ever heard of someone coming here after they die. I always thought that you went somewhere else when you died. A lot of people say that you become someone else when you die, or something like that, but I don't think they meant that you become a Bii`bi. I dunno..." Myaan's puzzled look deepened, her gaze drifting to the sky as she continued to ponder the matter.

"That's okay, never mind." Ryouga interjected, waving to get Myaan's attention. "Since neither of us can figure out how I got here, I'm not going to worry about it right now. It's not like this is a completely new experience for me, anyway, thought I can't recall ever getting lost and ending up in a place called Arcadia-"

Ryouga stopped, his lips frozen in the final sounds of the name. Narrowing his eyes, the lost boy got a very confused look on his face. "Arcadia. Ar... ca... di... a..." Saying the name again, Ryouga pronounced each syllable individually, sounding it out slowly, as if he were searching for some hidden meaning in the word.

Looking up suddenly, Ryouga cast an intense look towards the cat-girl. "Oi, nihongo o hanashiteiru kai? Wakatteiru?"

"Um..." Backing away a bit under Ryouga's gaze, Myaan held a placating hand in front of his face. "I understand, I guess, but I dunno if you're speaking... 'nihongo?,' or not..." Shrugging, the redhead wore an apologetic smile. "I've never heard that language before."

"Then... then how did you understand what I said?" Ryouga queried, switching back to his previous mode of speech.

"Um... I dunno. Nobody ever seems to have any trouble understanding each other in Arcadia." Still slightly unnerved at Ryouga's intensity, Myaan began to play with her own tail, cocking her head to the side as she regarded the lost boy.

"Hmmm..." Wearing a frown of consternation, Ryouga crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. "So, if we're not speaking Japanese, then what _are_ we speaking, and why can _I_ understand it?" Ryouga actually knew quite a few languages reasonably well, but he couldn't recall ever having spoken in the tongue that he used now. Despite that, it felt as natural to him as his native Japanese; perhaps even more so. Raising an eyebrow, Ryouga turned an inquisitive glance towards Myaan.

"Don't look at me! I dunno what it's called." Myaan shrugged yet again; she seemed to be doing that a lot, lately. "I never really thought to ask..." Suddenly, Myaan's eyes widened, her expression brightening considerably. She held her finger up to get Ryouga's attention. "Ne, I'll bet they'd know in the City! They know all kinds of neat stuff there!"

Ryouga's ears perked up at the mention of civilization. "The City? Where's that?"

"Lotsa roads lead there; most of them, really. One's usually in the woods not too far from here!" Smiling happily, Myaan pointed at the forest off in the distance.

"'One's _usually_ in the woods...?' What's that... Never mind. I don't want to know." Shaking his head, an exasperated look on his face, Ryouga continued. "But they'll know what language this, is in the city? Do you think they'd know how I got here, or why I'm not dead?"

"They might!" Myaan nodded energetically. "`An they could tell you all about Arcadia, and Bii`bi, and other stuff too! Y'hear lotsa good stories in the city!" Leaning forward, Myaan looked up at Ryouga's contemplative expression. "You're gonna go, right? To the City? Ne, can I come too? `S been a while since I've been there, `an I wanna hear some more stories! I can show you the way! Please, please, lemmie go with you! Pretty please?"

"Uh... yeah," Ryouga nodded uncertainly to Myaan, "I think that would be best."

"Yay!" grabbing Ryouga's hand Myaan began to lead them towards the forest. "C`mon, lets go!"

"Wait, wait!" Standing his ground against the cat-girl's seemingly boundless enthusiasm, Ryouga waved his other arm at the sky. "Don't you think we should wait until it's light out?"

"Why, cant'cha see?" Myaan peered at the lost boy inquisitively.

"Yeah, but-" Blinking, Ryouga stopped abruptly. Turning around, he looked off in the direction of the horizon. The sun had long since disappeared, taking with it the fiery afterglow of its departure. The twilight, too, had passed, and yet, even without it, the land seemed to be cast in a sort of cool, shimmering light.

Looking towards the sky, Ryouga found that the moon hadn't yet risen, thus discounting the possibility of moonlight. "How...?" Turning to face Myaan, Ryouga caught the shine of gold in her feline eyes, her irises reflecting much brighter than they should have; almost glowing. _Cat's eyes..._ Almost bringing a hand up to his face, Ryouga stopped himself and looked the cat-girl in the eye. "Myaan, what color are my eyes?"

"They're green, why?" Myaan stopped trying to drag Ryouga toward forest, and the lost boy could see a confused expression forming on her face.

Nodding to himself, Ryouga continued. "Okay... um, do they glow?"

"... Sorta, I guess."

"Do they look like a cat's eyes?"

"Nah!" Shaking her head, Myaan smirked at him. "They look like a fox's eyes! Why would they look like cat's eyes if you're a fox?"

"Never mind..." Rubbing his temples with his free hand, Ryouga faced the sky and closed his eyes. "Just... never mind..." Opening his eyes again, the lost boy looked towards the forest. It seemed reasonably well lit, as far as he could see, though thinking about it was starting to give him a headache. "Regardless, I still think we should find somewhere to stay for the night. Traveling during the day is usually safer. Unless this city is nearby?"

Shaking her head, Myaan rolled her shoulders. "I dunno. The roads to the city are always different out here. Could be a couple hours, or a couple weeks..."

"Wonderful... a city that has more trouble finding itself than I do..." Chuckling ruefully to himself, Ryouga peered into the forest. "Um, do you have a place that you usually stay around here?" He looked the cat girl up and down, paying attention to her reasonably urban attire. "In a town, or something?"

"Yup, yup! `S in the forest, but there's a town not too far away. The road runs through it! The town, I mean." Nodding emphatically, Myaan pointed in another direction. "My place is over there."

"Hmm..." Ryouga turned to face in the direction that Myaan had been leading them. "Maybe I should get a place to stay in the town. Then, you could go home, and if you still want to come with me you could come pick me up in the morning."

"That's silly!"

"Huh?" Blinking, Ryouga turned to face Myaan. The cat-girl had her hands on her hips, a no-nonsense expression on her face. "Why's that?"

"`Cuz I bet you don't know where the town is!" Wagging a finger in Ryouga's face, Myaan's expression began to crack, a hint of amusement showing through. "`An anyway, my place's closer. It'd be simpler if you just stayed there. That way, we could go to town together."

Though Ryouga had been planning on suggesting that Myaan drop him off at an inn or something, he realized that Myaan had no way of knowing about his directional problems, and had apparently assumed that Ryouga was going to make his way to town by himself. Despairing at his own weakness, the lost boy sighed, his ears drooping a bit. "I really don't want to impose..."

"Don't worry about it!" Grinning, Myaan began to lead Ryouga towards the forest. "I don't have company often, `an you're fun! `An you tell good stories too!"

"Well, okay..." Letting himself be led, Ryouga nodded in resignation. Reaching the near end of the field quickly, under Myaan's energetic guidance, Ryouga began to follow the cat girl into the woods.

After a few minutes of walking and making small talk, mostly Ryouga describing earth at Myaan's behest, the trees gradually began to thicken around them. As per normal, the canopy of leaves and branches obscuring the starlight made it slightly harder to see, but not nearly as much as Ryouga would have expected; the shadows deepened, but it was more a matter of contrast than visibility.

The trees themselves were surprisingly mundane. Ryouga could identify most of them by sight, and those that he couldn't were at least somewhat similar to other types that he had seen. One thing that did surprise him, though, was the intensity of the forest noises. The animals sounded as though they were inordinately active, considering that there were two talking... people, walking in their midst.

At one pause in the conversation, Ryouga turned his head to peer off into the trees on their right. Animal noises were particularly loud in that direction; so much so that Ryouga wouldn't have been surprised if the animals were right there, up in the trees above them.

At first, the lost boy didn't see anything. Then, tracking another sound, Ryouga turned to see a gray squirrel climbing up the side of a tree, off in the distance. Ryouga was amazed that he could still hear the squirrel's claws biting into the bark of the tree. It was a good forty or fifty meters away, but it sounded like the squirrel should have been right there with them, climbing up the tree beside his head. Ryouga couldn't decide what he should be more impressed by, the fact that he could hear it, or the fact that he could see that far in the dark.

"Ne, Ryouga, what'cha lookin' at?" Myaan asked, tugging at his sleeve.

"Huh?" Ryouga reflexively swiveled an ear towards the sound of Myaan's voice. "Oh, noth-" He blinked in confusion, as the sounds of the squirrel became much more indistinct, but still clearly audible. Thinking about what his ear had just done, Ryouga returned it to its original position. The sounds of the squirrel, now chewing on a nut, leapt back into focus. _Hmmm... directional, like sight..._ Turning his attention back to Myaan, Ryouga faced forward, a small smirk on his face. "Nothing. Nothing at all. It's just... I guess we're safer than I thought we were..."

"Oh, that's good," Myaan replied, a happily uncomprehending expression on her face.

(~)

Of course, I could still be wrong about that...

"Ne, Ryouga, what'cha waitin' for?" Myaan's voice floated down from the darkened canopy above. The thick branches obstructed his view enough that he couldn't see her, but Ryouga found that he could still tell where she was by the sound of her voice. "C'mon up!"

With a weary sigh, Ryouga grimaced and tilted his head back, peering up at the patch of foliage where he had seen the cat-girl disappear. "Alright, I'm coming up!" Dusting his hands off, the lost boy tested his grip on the bark of the tree trunk in front of him. _When she said that she had a place in the forest, was it asking too much to assume that she meant a _house_...?_ After a short while, he and Myaan had come to a section of old growth forest, so many of the trees were too wide across for Ryouga to get his arms around. The one he was facing now was no exception.

Moments earlier, Ryouga had seen his traveling companion take off her shoes and scamper up this same tree with cat-like ease; no surprise there. Still, Ryouga didn't trust his climbing skills that much, and he suspected that Myaan's alacrity wasn't due entirely to natural talent alone_. Oh well, nothing for it, I guess. _Spying a likely looking branch, one thick enough that it wouldn't break under his weight, Ryouga lowered into a half crouch, his wings locked tight to his back. Then, pushing off with his considerable strength, the fox-tailed boy sprang straight up, shooting through the branches like a silver-fletched arrow.

At the calculated terminus of his leap, nearly fifty feet above the ground, Ryouga cleared a particularly thick branch. As he spread his arms for balance, Ryouga's wings popped open reflexively, cleaving the air and softening his approach. He touched down lightly on the branch, only the soft sound of feathers rustling, as his wings closed, giving away his presence. *Humph... that was nice.* Ryouga had been betting on a heavy landing, and maybe a bit of mad scrambling for purchase as the branch broke under the stress. This development was a pleasant surprise, though looking around at the confined space within the branches, he decided that he didn't want to try opening his wings again until he was out of the trees.

Silently treading along the branch, seeking out his guide, Ryouga found her standing on a lower branch, around the left side of the tree, looking down at the ground below. Grinning to himself, Ryouga crept towards the tree trunk, leaning against it casually, being careful not to make any sound that couldn't be mistaken for animal noises. Then, after peering down at the cat-girl's back for a few moments, watching her tail swish back and forth in anticipation, Ryouga cleared his throat noisily. "Hey Myaan! Who are you looking for?"

"Eep!" Jumping in surprise, Myaan nearly fell off of her branch as she spun around to face him. "Ryouga! How'd you get back there?" She cast an astonished glance towards the silently grinning wanderer.

Ryouga just winked at her, holding up a single, admonishing finger. "Sore wa himitsu desu..."

"Ara? Wha'dya mean?" Cocking her head to the side, Myaan peered up at him in confusion. "Why's it a secret?"

"Never mind..." Snickering to himself, Ryouga hopped lightly down to Myaan's branch, this time being careful to keep his wings shut, lest he knock her off. "So, where to now?"

"Oh, just over there." Pointing off towards the top of a particularly large tree on their right, Myaan began to bound on all fours from branch to branch, gaining a bit of height before crossing over to the other tree and continuing up into the canopy.

Following her lead, Ryouga leapt off from the trunk of the tree. Sailing through the air towards the larger tree, he bounced off of that tree trunk back towards the original tree and then repeating the process, gaining height with each leap without having to worry about looking for strong branches to land on. Finally, seeing Myaan standing on a long, thick branch of the larger tree, Ryouga landed beside her, lowering to a crouch to soften the impact. The limb only shook slightly upon his arrival, attesting to its strength. Looking up at his guide, Ryouga cast her a questioning glance. "So, where is it?"

"Right there, see?" Grinning, Myaan pointed at the tree.

Following her gaze, Ryouga turned to regard the tree, expecting to see a bed of leaves nestled in the branches, or maybe just a broad branch with a comfortable curve to it. What he wasn't expecting was the little red door that loomed out of the darkness before him. Blinking in surprise, Ryouga looked again. 

The door was set into the wall of what was possibly the strangest looking house that Ryouga had ever seen. Hugging the side of the tree like some sort of bizarre fungus, the tree house curved up and around the nearly two meter wide trunk of the tree in steps, each segment supported by both buttresses and living branches. The bulk of the house sat in the crown of the tree, with branches protruding irregularly from the earthen-tiled roof and wooden walls in such a manner that Ryouga couldn't decide whether it looked like the tree had grown up through the house, or the house had grown up around the tree.

"Hehehe, neat, ne? C'mon inside!" Not waiting for Ryouga to reply, Myaan skipped up to the door, opening it with a flourish and stepping across the threshold.

Realizing that he was staring, Ryouga shook his head and stepped forward, proceeding cautiously along the branch. *Weird... I wonder why I didn't see it before...* Stepping inside, Ryouga reflexively began to take off his shoes. Then, looking down and seeing that Myaan hadn't left hers, he decided that it would be safer to leave them on, just in case. Shutting the door behind him, Ryouga began to make his way up the narrow, curving hallway, towards the main house. 

By the starlight filtering through the many small, open-shuttered windows in the outer wall, Ryouga could see that the wall on his right was the bare trunk of the tree itself. The outer wall seemed to be about a hand's width thick, meaning it probably had some sort of insulating material packed between the wood slats.

Reaching the main room, Ryouga found Myaan standing to one side, fiddling with a small lantern. Light flooded into the room as she finally got it lit, hanging the lantern from one of the branches protruding from the crown of the tree, which dominated the center of the room, with several large branches radiating out from the center. The leaves and smaller branches had been meticulously pruned, but the larger branches, some of them as thick around as Ryouga's waist, were given free reign. It made it somewhat difficult to walk around the room, without having to duck at least once. 

The room itself was round, about five meters across, and rather sparsely furnished. A table was built on top of the tree trunk, at about waist height, and small, straw-covered cot was built into the outer wall. It sat opposite the stairway down, with a set of shelves and cabinets mounted into the wall and a small cast-iron stove at the other two opposing points of the compass. A small chest sat at the foot of the cot, and there were four shuttered windows set into the walls; one at either side of the cot, mirrored by a pair at the sides of the stairway.

Plopping down on the cot, Myaan crossed her legs and leaned up against the wall. "Well, what'cha think?" The cat-girl stared up at Ryouga expectantly, smiling.

Not finding any chairs in evidence, Ryouga walked around the center of the room and sat down on the floor across from the cot, leaning against the tree trunk. "It's not quite what I was expecting, but it's nice." Looking around at the single bed, and the few personal possessions, Ryouga turned to peer curiously at Myaan. "Do... do you live here alone?"

"Yup! I've lived here for the last two winters, since I left home. I've never had anybody living with me since I got here." She looked around the room for a moment, a slightly regretful look on her face. "Still seems sorta empty, I guess. But when the weather's nice I like to travel, so I'm not here much anyway. `S too bad I can't have a fireplace up here tho. I like fireplaces, but I have'ta be really careful when I burn anything up here. Stove's usually warm enough, tho."

Looking over at the stove, Ryouga saw that it was sitting in a pit of packed earth, probably to catch any falling ash, and to keep the wooden floor from catching fire. If the walls were as well insulated as they looked, the room could probably be quite cozy with a fire burning. All things considered, it appeared as though someone had put a lot of thought into this tree house, though why anyone would go would go to so much effort to construct such an unconventional house, Ryouga had no idea. "Hey Myaan, are houses like this common around here?" he asked, turning to look at his host.

Myaan seemed to lose herself in thought for a few moments, before answering, "Not really, I think. `S the first one that I had ever seen, anyway."

"You didn't have it built for you?"

"Uh-uh." Myaan shook her head. "I just found it."

Ryouga gave Myaan a questioning look. "You found it?"

The cat-girl nodded. "Yeah. I had just gotten to this area and was staying in town. One day, I was wandering around in the woods, and saw it up in the trees, so I climbed up to take a look." Turning over, Myaan rested her chin on the small, feather stuffed pillow that sat at one end of the cot, wrapping her arms around it.

"It was empty, and it looked like nobody had been home for a while, so I went back to town and asked if anybody knew about it. Most had never even heard about a house up in the trees, and nobody could tell me who lived there, so the next day I brought my stuff and moved in. I've been living here ever since."

"Strange..." Scratching his head, Ryouga looked around again. "Nobody's ever come looking for whoever lived her?"

"Nope."

"Hmm... That's sort of odd." Shrugging, Ryouga put his hands behind his head and leaned back, using his wings as an impromptu cushion.

"Not really." Myaan smirked, sitting up again. "You find all kinds of neat stuff in the forest."

Ryouga favored her with a funny look. "Neat stuff? Like what?"

Peering at the lost boy playfully, Myaan seemed to consider her answer for a moment before speaking. "Well... I found these shoes in the forest," she replied, holding up the gray sneakers that she had been wearing. "They've got this weird gummy stuff on the bottoms, and they feel better than the kind you get from a cobbler."

Narrowing his eyes, Ryouga examined the shoes. Though badly worn, they seemed to have once been a rather nice pair of name-brand sneakers; somebody would probably have paid a lot for a pair of shoes like that, on earth. "Humph... you found these in the forest, huh?"

"Yup! Where'dja find yours? Don't see clothes like that much, either." Myaan pointed out, indicating Ryouga's attire.

Self consciously, Ryouga looked down at his clothes, noticing them for the first time. Strangely, they didn't appear to be the same clothes that he had... left earth in. When he had been fighting Ranma, Ryouga had been wearing a yellow cutoff T-shirt, a pair of his regular cotton, drawstring travel pants, with bindings up the shins, and his leather-soled slippers. 

Now, he appeared to be wearing a pair of drab khaki pants, possibly army surplus, with a black T-shirt and a pair of high-topped, black leather combat boots. Only the bandanna was the same. The outfit wasn't unfamiliar; Ryouga could remember having worn something like this, once, but the memory was hazy, and he hadn't owned a pair of boots since... _Since I was traveling in China, searching for Ranma..._

The thread of memory snapped taut, leading him back to the very moment. He had been weeks wandering in the deepest expanses of China, searching for a man who had fled from a duel of honor. Carrying a heavy hiking backpack, he wore the clothing of a Chinese soldier, clothing that he had bought right off of the soldier's back. 

Village people tended not to question the actions of the military, at least not in front of them, so the clothing allowed him to cross regional borders relatively unmolested, blending in as just another young man returning home on leave. He had a good command of the language, which helped, and the intensity of his manner tended to put off any unwanted questions regarding his comings and goings.

The day had been hot, and he was climbing into the mountains, so he had taken off the jacket, stuffing it in his pack with the rest of his clothes. Finally, he had broken out of the forest. Standing on a rocky outcropping, overlooking a wide valley filled with shining, inviting pools of cool spring water, he tried to regain his bearings. Suddenly, he heard a sound behind him. Spinning, he leapt just in time to avoid the panda that was charging at his back.

In his haste, however, he had failed to notice the red-haired girl chasing after the animal. Springing from the ground, the girl's knee collided with the side of his head in passing; not hard enough to cause injury, but enough to knock him off the edge of the cliff, sending him plummeting down into the valley below. Down into the crystalline blue depths of a cool mountain spring, hidden deep within the mountains of China, in the valley of the Pools of Sorrow...

(~)

"Ne, Ryouga? Ryouugaaa..."

"Huh?" Blinking, the lost boy came back to the present. He turned to Myaan, a slightly panicked look in his eyes.

"What'cha thinking of?" The cat girl peered at him intently. "Maybe you've got a story `bout how you got those clothes?"

"Uh...," Staring down at himself again, then back at Myaan, Ryouga tried to think of an answer. "Well, um, I'm not really sure how I got these clothes. Eheh..."

"Oh, okay!" Grinning, Myaan leaned back again, resting her hands on her knees.

Sitting up straighter, Ryouga took another glance around the room, before crossing his arms and bowing his head. _Hmm... it's possible, if I really did die... And if I didn't, well, foxes are _supposed_ to be able to change form. Maybe..._ After a few more moments of contemplation, Ryouga reached a decision. Nodding to himself, he stood up and looked down at Myaan. "Myaan, do you have any water in here?"

Looking up at Ryouga, a familiar expression of curiosity formed on Myaan's face. "Yeah, there's a barrel outside." She replied, waving over towards the window at the foot of her bed. "Why?"

Walking over to the window, Ryouga threw open the shutters and looked down. There, sitting in a small, box-like platform mounted on the side of the house, was a medium-sized wooden barrel. A thick rope harness was tied around it, with three leads joined to a coil of rope that hung from a peg mounted in the wall on the right. A heavy looking wooden cover sat atop the barrel, hinged in the middle so that one edge could be lifted. Ryouga lifted the lid and peered inside, noting the glint of clear water about halfway down.

At tap on his shoulder caused the lost boy to turn to his right, where Myaan was standing, offering him a small wooden pitcher. "Here, use this!" Myaan urged, smiling obligingly.

"Thanks." Accepting the pitcher, Ryouga leaned down and dipped it into the water. When it was about half full, he pulled it out and closed the lid, backing up and setting it on the floor beside him before closing the shutters again. Picking up the pitcher again, Ryouga moved over to stand by the stove, Myaan following him along, a questioning look on her face.

Turning to face her, Ryouga glanced down at the water in the pitcher, gathering his nerve. "Um... Myaan, I'm going to do something, but first I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure!" Nodding happily, Myaan regarded Ryouga from her perch on the edge of the table. "Wha'dya need?"

"Okay," nodding, Ryouga indicated the pitcher. "I'm going to pour some of this on myself, and I might need you to do something for me after that." Looking into Myaan's eyes to make sure that she understood, Ryouga took a deep breath and continued. "If- if I should... change, then I'm going to need you to heat up some water with your stove, and then pour it on me. Could you do that for me?"

"Yeah, I guess." Scratching her head, Myaan peered back at Ryouga in confusion. "But why would'ja need me to do that? Couldn't you just do it yourself? And wha'dya mean 'if' you change? I mean, shouldn't you know if you're gonna change-" Myaan's eyes suddenly widened, as if she had just experienced some sort of revelation. "Unless you aren't good at changing yet! If you were a human before, then you wouldn't know much about changing yet, ne?" Smiling to herself, Myaan nodded once, but then the look of confusion returned. "Ara, but what's the water for, then?"

"Uhh... that's a long story." Ryouga replied uncertainly.

"Okay!" Grinning brightly, Myaan hopped to her feet and raised one finger. "I'll do it if you'll tell me the story afterward, `kay?"

"... Alright, I'll tell you that story later. I'll probably need to explain anyway...." sighing, Ryouga nodded to Myaan, before turning his gaze back to the pitcher in his hand. Swallowing uncomfortably, he raised the pitcher to head level. *Well, here goes nothing...* Tipping the pitcher, Ryouga felt a cool cascade of wetness flow across his brow and down his cheeks. 

For several moments he simply stood there, waiting for the familiar pins and needles sensation of the magic to sweep across him, to steal what remained of his humanity. Water seeped though his shirt, trickling down his chest. Setting down the pitcher on the cold stove, Ryouga ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing back his damp bangs. 

Drawing his hand back down, Ryouga watched in uncomprehending wonder as the lamplight flickered and flashed in the sheen of moisture on his skin. He grabbed the pitcher again, dumping its remaining contents over his head, feeling the water splash across his shoulders, flowing down the middle of his back. His eyes widened as he held the empty pitcher before him, his jaw hanging slack in surprise.

"YEEEAAHH!!" Throwing his head back, Ryouga shouted victoriously, raising the empty pitcher above his head. "NOT A PIG! NOT A PIG! WHAHAHAHAHA!"

"KYAA!"

Blinking, Ryouga stopped laughing and looked to his right. There, pinned to the wall by one of his outstretched wings, was Myaan. "Oops! Sorry!" Blushing sheepishly, Ryouga refolded his wings and bent over to help host her back to her feet. _Not a pig, but not human either..._ he mused with a sigh.

"Aah, `s okay," Myaan replied as she grasped Ryouga's arm, rubbing her nose with her other hand. Letting the lost boy pull her to her feet, Myaan took the pitcher from Ryouga's hands, bringing it back to the shelf where she got it. "Was just surprised, `s all." Still grinning, the cat girl sat back down on the table.

"Oh... well, still, I shouldn't have done that." Looking rather abashed, Ryouga scratched the back of his head. "I'll try to be more careful from now on." He assured her, again making sure that his wings were firmly secured.

"`Kay. Now why'dja do that thing with the water, an why were you so happy when nothing happened?" Leaning forward, Myaan looked at him expectantly.

"Uh... well..." Ryouga thought of how to explain his actions without embarrassing himself. Then he realized that, since he apparently wasn't cursed anymore, he really didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. "Okay, well, a while ago, I was traveling through China, when-"

"Where's that?" Myaan interrupted.

"Huh? Well, China is..." Ryouga trailed off, wondering how he could explain relative geography to someone who had never even been on earth before. Not that he really put much stock in geography anyway, since the maps that he always tried to use never seemed to get him where he wanted to go. "It's sort of... well, it's big... and kind of in the west, somewhere, usually..."

"Show me!"

"Huh?" Ryouga glanced back at Myaan, his face twisted in confusion. "Do you have a map or something?"

"Nah, silly!" Hopping to her feet, Myaan wove her way around the room back towards the window with the water barrel. "Just follow me!" So saying, she opened the shutters again and leapt out the window, bounding off of the water barrel into the branches above.

What the hell...? Planting a hand on the table, Ryouga flipped through the center of the room, landing near the window. Then, being careful to make sure that his wings fit, he ducked through the window and stood atop the water barrel, looking up through the branches for Myaan. 

Not seeing her, he hopped up to one of the branches that was protruding from the roof, absently noting that on the leaves and smaller branches were still whole and quite healthy on the outside of the house. Scanning the other branches from his perch, Ryouga found Myaan standing in the center of the roof, looking up at the sky.

Why'd she bring me up here? Ryouga wondered, as he began to make his way towards the cat-girl, stepping gingerly across the roof tiles. Stopping beside her, Ryouga tapped Myaan on the shoulder. "Why'd we come out here, Myaan?"

"`Cuz I wanted you to show me where China is." Myaan replied simply, nodding towards the sky.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to..." Ryouga's protests died on his lips as he turned to look in the direction that Myaan had indicated. _... No way..._ Closing his eyes for a few heartbeats, Ryouga looked again, a bit more intensely this time. _There's no way that that can be... this can't be real._ But even as Ryouga thought this, he began to make out the familiar shapes that he had seen so many times before.

"I guess those maps were right after all..." he mumbled to himself. Painted in warm luminescence across the bluish night sky, looming large before his unbelieving eyes, the earth floated before him, shining like a beautiful, blue-green moon. And there, just now peeking around from behind that mysterious celestial body, her ashen-faced sister satellite began to make an appearance.

"So where is it?" Myaan pressed, pointing up at the great globe floating across the sky.

"Where is what?" Ryouga mumbled, still rather stunned.

"China!"

"Oh." Staring up at the earth, Ryouga realized that, at the very least, it looked like the right side of it was facing them. _I'm gonna have to remember to ask her why the _hell_ we can see that._ He looked back at Myaan, who was staring at him expectantly, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. _Though something tells me that I'm not gonna like the answer, even if she's got one..._

"Well, you see that really big chunk of green and brown that's sort of in the center there?" Myaan nodded to him. "Now that's Asia. The blue stuff that's all around it is the sea."

"So the sea's blue?" His companion wondered aloud.

"Yeah, it's blue." Thinking back to a previous conversation, Ryouga suddenly got a confused look on his face. "Hasn't anyone ever told you about this before? What, with _that_ up there and all?" He queried, waving up at the earth.

Myaan shook her head. "Uh-uh. Cat spirits don't go to earth much, so momma didn't tell me anything about it. `An most of the stories that I've heard don't say much about the sea, really." Looking up again, Myaan peered intently at the blue-green orb before them. "I knew it was water `an all, but sometimes water is different colors, ne? I've seen ponds where the water's clear, and swamps where it's brown or yellow. But I've never seen a sea before..."

"Hmm..." Ryouga nodded to himself, regarding the earth once again. "Well, the water's not really blue. It's just that it's so deep that the light- it- well, it's complicated." Ryouga stopped, hoping to avoid any more explanations along those lines. "But anyway, that big piece of land in the middle is Asia. Now on the right side of Asia- sort of in the lower corner there," he explained, waving his hands up at the globe for emphasis, "That's China."

"So you're from China?" Myaan inquired curiously.

"No, I was just traveling through China."

"But I was always told that Bii`bi were 'Chinese' fox spirits. That means they're from China, ne?" Myaan looked into Ryouga's eyes for confirmation before continuing. "I never knew where China was before, but I knew it was supposed to be different from the place where Kitsune are from, some place called Japan."

"Hmm... well, I don't know much about that, but I'm originally from Japan myself." Ryouga explained, looking contemplative.

"So why aren't you a Kitsune?" The cat-girl questioned, looking confused.

Ryouga shrugged. "I dunno. Is there really that much difference?"

"I'm not sure. You're the first Bii`bi I've met." Myaan admitted. "Where's Japan, anyway."

"Umm..." Squinting a bit, Ryouga examined the sea to the east of China.

"Okay, can you see that line of green and brown that's sort of floating out in the sea beside China?" Myaan made a small affirmative sound, not taking her eyes off of the sky. "That's Japan. It's a bunch of islands. My home is sort of in the middle of the big one, I think."

"So why were you in China?"

"Well..." Ryouga peered closely at Myaan, wondering if he should continue. Then, sighing to himself, he sat down on the roof of Myaan's house. "Actually, if you want me to tell you the _whole_ story, we have to start in Japan. This could take a while," he explained, patting the spot beside him.

When Myaan had gotten comfortable, Ryouga tuned his face up to the sky, this time looking to the stars, "About... a winter and a summer ago, I was living by myself at my home in Japan. Well, not really by myself; I had a dog too. Back then I was going to school-"

"School, what's that?" Myaan interjected.

"It's a place where humans go to learn about the world, and about math, and science, and stuff like that. The people there teach you all sorts of things." Ryouga explained.

"Wow, that sounds like fun." Myaan replied cheerily. "I'll bet'cha hear all kinds of neat stories there. Do alot of people go to school?"

"That depends on where you are," Ryouga elaborated, thinking back to his travels, "but in Japan, everyone that's not an adult is supposed to go to school. And as it happened, it was in this school that I met another boy. His name was Ranma..."


End file.
